During the weekend, prison reform advocate Michael Allen and other protesters in Houston hung signs that said: "End Whole Foods Market's Profiting From Prison Slave Labor," reported National Public Radio (NPR).

In response to customer complaints, Whole Foods promised these products will be "off our shelves by April 2016, if not sooner." The company's statement explained that while it felt "rehabilitative work being done by inmates would help people get back on their feet," it will end the practice because "some shoppers and members of the community" were uncomfortable with it.

The inmates make about $1,500 to $2,500 a year, Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy's John Scaggs told NPR.

While criticism focused on the low wages paid to produce goods that sell for high prices, Whole Foods correctly noted that prison work programs can help inmates learn new skills, including "soft skills" like showing up for work on time and navigating boss-employee interactions, which can help them upon release.

"The program has also been hailed a model for teaching inmates valuable work skills and allowing them to earn a higher wage than other prison jobs – such as cooking or laundry duty. It has also been hailed for allowing the prison department to make back some of the money it spends on housing inmates," Collen Curry reports for Vice.

On its website, CCI says its mission is to "train inmates with skills and work ethics that help them secure employment after release."

Prison labor is hardly new, but the negligible pay – often less than $1 for a full day's work – and harsh treatment of inmates have gotten activists up in arms.

Whole Foods spokesman Michael Silverman told the AP that the program, which began in 2011, was a way to "help people get back on their feet and eventually become contributing members of society."

Allen dismisses such claims. "They say they care about the community, but they're enhancing their profit off of poor people," he said.